A look at the best players, teams and stories from the high school basketball season

The high school basketball season is a wrap. Here is the biggest and best from the 2025-26 season.

Best team: Marist

After finishing third in the East Suburban Catholic Conference, the state champions of the state’s largest class put it all together at the right time.

How dominating were the RedHawks over the final three weeks of the season? The average victory margin in seven postseason wins was 20 points a game with just one game closer than 12 points.

Best player: Jaxson Davis, Warren

The poised and polished point guard continues to prove over and over again he’s the real deal. Davis, who averaged 25 points, six rebounds and five assists a game, blends being a high-feel orchestrator and playmaker with scoring ability as well as anyone.

Biggest surprise: York

At each step of the way this season, coach Mike Dunn’s team was always referenced to as “surprising York.” That mantra kept up throughout the postseason and all the way to Champaign. No one would have forecast a top four finish in 4A for the Dukes when the season began.

Mr. March: Amarion Smith-Holley, Peoria Richwoods

There was no player who put his team on his back and carried it more than the sophomore point guard.

Smith-Holley put up 31 in a regional final win over Rock Island. Down two in a sectional semifinal against Normal, he hit three pressure-packed free-throws with no time on the clock and scored 29 points for a 68-67 win. In the sectional final, Smith-Holley’s key late steal and two free throws with 12 second left lifted the Knights to a 59-58 win over Edwardsville as he finished with 21 points.

Biggest story: Continued rise of private schools

Remember, there was very little overall impact from private schools in basketball for decades in this state. Sure, there was a team here and there that made its presence felt over the years, but the reign of state basketball power, specifically the depth, has shifted dramatically.

The Chicago Catholic League was clearly the best conference in the state. There were three private schools among the final four teams in 4A. If not for York’s overtime win over St. Ignatius in the supersectional, it would have been all private schools in 4A.

And the state's largest class featured its first-ever all-private school state championship game when Marist beat Benet.

Breakout senior: Charles Barnes, Marist

A promising player since his arrival as a freshman at De La Salle, the 6-5 Barnes put it all together as a senior after transferring to Marist. His final season included significant numbers, all-state recognition and a state championship.

Breakout junior: Mason Martin, Neuqua Valley

The season started out with an attention-grabbing bang for the 6-5 sharpshooter. A 41-point performance with 11 three-pointers in the season opener will do that for you.

What followed was an offer and commitment to Illinois and a monster junior campaign. Martin, who averaged 19 points a game, dazzled as a shooter, connecting on a whopping 118 three-pointers at a 45 percent clip. He also made 85 of 91 free throws (93 percent).

Breakout sophomore: Amir Tucker, St. Ignatius

Tucker put himself on the map and was more impactful than anticipated. His improvement, production and clutch play down the stretch stood out.

The 6-2 guard wanted the ball at crunch time and filled the stat sheet, ending the year averaging 12.1 points a game. He also drained 62 three-pointers while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc.